


reflect

by lethargicProfessor



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-21 09:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12454605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lethargicProfessor/pseuds/lethargicProfessor
Summary: "Your eye is like glass. It reflects me, but that’s all. Nothing reaches inside."





	reflect

“I don’t like him.” It’s a confession of sorts, and Doug squirms under the sudden gaze turned his way.

Lynne, with all the subtlety of a scientist, turns fully in her seat, scanning the crowded dining room. “Who?”

Doug flaps his hands at her uselessly, turning to Marina for help. The other finder shrugged, watching him curiously. “Who don’t you like?”

“Lavi. Bookman.” Doug sighs, poking his food. Across from him, the girls share a look.

Lynne sits back down properly, her hood tugged low over her auburn hair. “What do you mean?”

“It’s rare for you to dislike someone,” Marina adds, glancing over her shoulder to stare at the table filled with exorcists.

It’s not a very large table, but the majority of the finders and scientists give it a wide berth. If the exorcists notice, they never complain.

Shrugging, Doug slides his food away. “I just don’t.”

He still remembers the first mission he took with them, the mysterious Bookmen that arrived to the Order without warning. He couldn’t bear to look him in the eye. It was like nothing was there, like he was talking to a shell of a human being.

A small part of him wondered if that was what an akuma looked like, if they continued the charade long enough. Reflecting everything with nothing reaching inside.

He falls still, and the girls resume the conversation over his head, letting the subject drop.

* * *

“I don’t trust him,” Doug amends, warming his chilled hands over the fire. Lynne glances over, cheeks red from the cold, and turns in her seat to watch the exorcists further away. They seem to be strategizing, but Lavi is aware enough of their audience to give Lynne what Doug assumes is a wink.

Lynne waves, turning back to the fire. “Why not?”

Doug can’t explain his unease – that it’s the way he smiles without it reaching his eyes, or that when he thinks no one is looking his face falls to something almost cold. Maybe it’s the way he refers to people, to humans, in a tone that makes it sound like he isn’t quite part of them. Like he’s something different.

(Of course, it’s completely plausible that Doug is thinking too much into it. Everyone likes Lavi, and frankly it’s hard not to. Perhaps he’s being silly.)

“I don’t know,” he says lamely, shoving his hands under his thighs. He suspects part of the cold he feels isn’t entirely from the weather.

* * *

Doug has had stupid ideas before, but he definitely thinks distracting an akuma is probably one of the stupidest, if only because he can’t feel his legs and the building around him is literally being held up by a singular beam of wood that is quickly splintering.

He’s too nervous to be afraid, too filled with adrenaline as he scrambles for anything he can use to push the debris off his legs. His fingers scrabble through the rubble, but most of it is stonework. Some of it slips from his grip, and in one delirious moment he can’t fathom it’s the blood on his hands that’s causing it.

He isn’t sure if it’s his blood, but that’s a thought to be filed away for another time.

There’s a rumble above him, and he shuts his eyes against the rain of ash that falls onto him, smaller bits of stone dropping onto the sore spot of his head. He braces himself, drawing himself as small as he can to avoid the most of it, and the building shifts—

“Hey! I found him!”

–and Doug lets out the breath he was holding, squinting through the dust and dark towards the familiar redhead propping the building up with his hammer, of all things.

Lavi doesn’t look too worse for wear, though his uniform is torn at a sleeve and his scarf is gone. Still, the smile he gives him is almost, genuinely blinding, reaching out with one hand to try to heave him out. “Next time you have a plan like that, give us a little warning, won’t you?”

“I hope there is no next time,” Doug croaks, taking Lavi’s hand gratefully.

Lavi laughs, hauling him out of the rubble with a surprising amount of strength, and props him up as the other finders on team rush to meet them. There’s calls for more survivors, but Lavi waits until Doug regains his balance before taking off with a cheeky salute.

“He was helping us look for you,” Marina whispers, patting the blood away from Doug’s face with a frown. “I’ve never seen him panic like that.”

“He’s the one that noticed what you did,” Lynne says, wedging herself under Doug’s arm to hold him up. “If it weren’t for him, I don’t know what would have happened…”

The adrenaline is staring to fade, leaving Doug with heavy limbs and a warm feeling in his chest. He’s…appreciative, of course. He didn’t want to die. But it was touching to know that Lavi was looking out for him.

“Thank him for me?” Doug murmurs, letting the exhaustion weigh him down into a dreamless sleep. 


End file.
